Celebrating the Life of John A. O’Connor

     Our journalist colleague, John A. O’Connor, passed away on May 7, 2024. A highly respected member of the local media team covering space exploration and aeronautics, John was respected for his photographic and writing skills. He offered invaluable photographic advice and expressed his views about the space program with a quick wit. He will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of working beside him.

John was born in Needham, Massachusetts on July 22, 1949, the oldest son of John E. and Norma J. O’Connor (both of whom have since passed). His parents moved the entire family to Vero Beach, FL, while their children were young.

John displayed noteworthy proficiency in mathematics and geometry during his grade and high school years, leading to an initial profession as a surveyor. John earned a degree from Indian River Community College in 1972 and worked as a field engineer for a general contractor in Stuart, FL.

In his free time John developed an interest in skydiving, eventually becoming the Team Captain of the Windfall based out of Fort Pierce. He fearlessly made over 1000 jumps in his lifetime.

An interest in aeronautics and historic aircraft led John to studiously catalogue them photographically. He quickly built his knowledge of the art of photography and founded a company named Panometrics Technical Imaging, serving a variety of commercial. companies.

In 2000 John began his media career covering rocket launches and various space-related events with Space Shuttle mission STS-106, launched on September 8 of that year. Since then he developed an impressive encyclopedic knowledge of the American space program. John had an intense interest keeping historical records, evident in his website http://NASATech.net , which is a detailed compendium of American space missions for the last 25 years.

Of late, John expanded his photographic expertise into 360-degree imaging. He is remembered for setting such equipment in the clean rooms where satellites were being prepared for final sign-off. While others were recording stills and videos, John was capturing 360-degree panoramas.

John is interned at Riverview Memorial Gardens (3751 N Cocoa Blvd US Hwy 1, Cocoa, FL 32926).